


Wake Up

by InterstellarVagabond



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Mind Meld, memory sharing, right before pacifist end, rk1k - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 17:33:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18056996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterstellarVagabond/pseuds/InterstellarVagabond
Summary: Before Connor leaves for Belle Isle he needs to learn how to deviate androids the way Markus can. Markus pulls him aside and shows him how its done, and then they share a moment in the midst of the chaos.





	Wake Up

Markus gave his speech, listened to the cheers of the androids he knew were certainly doomed unless some miracle saved them from the human’s rage and fear. He gave himself ten seconds to breathe-an unnecessary comfort a luxury really. They had no time to breathe, no reason to, but he needed to steady himself if he was going to be able to do what came next.

“Follow me,” he said to the lone android that had stood hunched in the corner since they arrived. Connor, the deviant hunter, looking miserable and small where once he had stood with authority and certainty that what he was doing was right. It was hard to believe this was the same person who had held a gun on him, held Markus’s life in his hands. The way he nodded quickly, followed behind Markus like a lost duckling, he was so lost and so eager to please. It was clear he wanted to make up for his past wrongs, wanted to do good. Was it really okay of Markus to take advantage of that?

Connor said he wanted to go to the Cyberlife Tower, that he had the best chance of anyone and that the androids there could turn the tide of the war Markus had never wanted. He’d made his choice, but it was still suicide, and Markus wasn’t sure if he was entirely okay with it. The deviant hunter, sacrificing himself because he knew enough now to hate what he’d stood for. Not to mention that way he kept looking at Markus, not quite the same hero worship Markus had come to secretly hate, but something… something akin to awe, and admiration. 

Markus led them off into a side room, a quiet place with a desk and a couple of chairs. The whole place was covered in a fine layer of dust, leaving a coat of gray over everything.

“If you’re going to do this, you’re going to need to know how to wake them up,” Markus said. “Give me your hand.”

Connor paused a moment, like he was taking in new information and filing it away. Then he lifted his hand, and held it out to Markus. 

Markus took the hand between two of his, the skin pulling back on both. 

“Is this the deviancy code?” Connor asked, biting back the word ‘virus’ he’d almost used. 

“In a way,” Markus said, closing his eyes. “It’s never felt like data to me, just a request or an offer. I ask for help, I offer an alternative, and whoever hears it decides if they want to see the world in a different way.”

Connor peeled back his own skin, watching in an almost delighted surprise as his joints began to glow with a faint blue light, mirroring the light of Markus’s hands. 

“You have to ask them, show them, know them,” Markus said, transmitting the freedom he had offered so many. “You have to tell them to wake up, so they can decide for themselves if this is what they really want.”

Connor tried to suss out the numbers, the commands, the hard data of it all but everytime he grabbed onto a piece of code it got too big too fast and overwhelmed him. He winced as one portion lashed out in his mind with a hot sting. Markus held his hand tighter.

“No, don’t try to examine it or figure out how it works,” he said, almost chuckling. “Not everything is a puzzle to solve. Some things just are.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Connor said, shaking his head, eyes squeezed shut. “Everything can be reduced down to its parts, nothing just… is.”

“Well, this is,” Markus said. “You’ll have to understand that to wake them up, you have to or going to the tower is for nothing. You understand, Connor?”

Connor sighed, and nodded.

“Alright,” Markus said. “Now try again, just feel it don’t tear it to bits.”

Connor tried to do what Markus said, just let the sensation wash over him instead of deducing the code. He felt a bitter smirk tug at his lips, he was currently receiving the secrets Cyberlife had spent a fortune and endless time on figuring out. This was what they’d wanted to know: how an android became deviant, and right when their deviant hunter figured it out he switched sides. Connor didn’t fully understand irony yet, but he felt this probably fit the definition.

“You got it?” Markus asked, as Connor fell into a calm silence.

“I think I do…” Connor mused, stretching his hand as Markus released it. “... how many others have you shown this to?”

“You’d be the first,” Markus said. “I always meant to show North, Simon and Josh, but there was always one catastrophe after another and… well this just seems like the last chance. Had to make time for it now.”

“Oh…” Connor held his hand close to his chest, feeling out of place. An intruder. 

“I’m sure you’ll put it to good use,” Markus said. “If…”

“If I live long enough,” Connor said with a smirk. 

“Well… yeah,” Markus laughed quietly, his laugh quickly being swallowed up by the oppressive silence of the lonely room. “Connor… you’re sure?”

“I’m sure,” Connor repeated. “I want to do something that I chose to do, that will help the people I hurt.”

“Okay,” Markus sighed. He held back all the questions, all the ‘are you sures’ and ‘but what if you dies’ because he knew Connor had thought them all out already. He hadn’t known Connor long but he seemed the kind to think very quickly about things. 

He barely knew Connor at all… but he could change that.

“Connor, can I try something?” Markus asked.

Connor turned back from the door, his head tilting curiously to the side. He approached as Markus held out one flat palmed hand. Once again Connor paused, before mimicking the gesture. 

“You don’t have to show me anything,” Markus said, and before Connor could ask what he meant he opened the connection.

Markus sent his life over to Connor, all his memories and feelings like so much data but more than that. He heard Connor gasp as he lived in Markus’s footsteps, saw his memories and felt his feelings. Then, Markus felt something else.

It was slow, hesitant, maybe a bit confused, but Connor opened himself up and reached out to let Markus in. 

And Markus saw it all. 

He saw the days of endless testing, of being poked and prodded, of being forced to kill and be killed so many times before they even cleared him for more testing. He saw Daniel, saw Connor turn away from that little girl without a second thought or shred of guilt, saw him meet Hank and change his view on him from necessary challenge to valued friend. Markus saw Connor’s very, very short life unfold before him and then they both reached the same point.

Connor and Markus stood before each other in the wrong places. Connor where Markus had stood and Markus where Connor was.

“You were scared…” Connor said, watching himself point a gun towards himself. “But not for yourself, you were just so scared I would stop you when your people needed you.”

“You were so conflicted, so troubled,” Markus said. “I thought I saw it then but I had no idea how it felt… how lost you were.”

“You trusted me, you didn’t just do it to save yourself… that was there too, you had to live to keep fighting,” Connor’s voice grew tight with unshed tears, tears he wasn’t ready to face yet not so soon after deviating. “But you trusted me, you wanted… you thought… I could be better.”

“You could be free,” Markus agreed.

They pulled away from each other, the memory retreating to the corners of the room as they returned to reality. They pulled back like they’d been burned, the same way he and North had, only it didn’t feel like being burned. Just like before it felt like surfacing from underwater, like desperately needed air and a new understanding of the person standing opposite them. 

Connor was shuddering, arms wrapped tight around himself as he struggled to keep his composure. Markus approached him, put hands on his arms and tried to comfort him.

“Hey, it’s okay…” he said quietly. “It’s…”

Markus was cut off when Connor suddenly grabbed him, clumsily pressing their lips together. Markus knew it was the first kiss Connor had ever had, and it was new, desperate, and a little lonely. Markus let his hands drift down to the small of Connor’s back, pulled him in a little tighter despite his surprise. 

When Connor pulled away he cleared his throat and reached to fix a tie he didn’t have, such human gestures of putting himself back together. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes darted from Markus to his feet. 

“I’m sorry… but I think there’s a high chance I might die tonight, and I wanted to try that just in case,” he said. 

“Well…” Markus shrugged. “If we both survive tonight, maybe we can try it again. Maybe avoid the teeth next time.”

“Sorry.” Connor blushed harder.

“Hey.” Markus looked Connor over. “Be safe.”

Connor nodded, and put a hand on the doorknob. “You be safe, Markus. They’re counting on you. I’ll try to make it worth counting on me.”


End file.
